i would hope that this court would use that as precedence. we will see. we don't know. i heard different versions of how people interpreted what one judge said, another judge said, and the rest. but i do know one thing. that is if the court supports president trump on this, they will be doing great harm to hundreds of thousands of people and families in our country, and i hope that pain will be a part of their consideration, because they have to consider the mpact. and i hope they will understand the blessing to america that our newcomers are, and i hope the senate will pass h.r. 6. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

mr. mccarthy: close, close? i'd like to start this monday was veterans day. i was able to be home. i was able to be grand marshall in our 100th veterans day parade. i want to thank those veterans for the freedom they provided us, the service they have given. it would have been nice this week we would pass appropriation bills for our troops, for their pay raise, for the funding to make sure they're safe and protected on the job that they have to do, but unfortunately, this week is just about impeachment.

the public was able to see what this democrat majority has been working on for the last three years, just impeachment. i want to recognize the republican members and staff of the intelligence committee. i thought they did a great job yesterday. with poise and purpose, they brought forth the truth out to the public after weeks of adam schiff keeping them in the dark. we didn't walk out of yesterday's hearing with any new information than we already walked in. so let me quickly recap what we do know. the call summary is still the most important piece of evidence we have. it shows no pressure or even it shows no pressure or even mention of conditionality between the two leaders. the ukrainians did not know that security assistance was under review until over a month after the call. the full assistance was provided and no investigation was opened. we did hear from the witnesses was that they had never spoken to president trump, they had not met with the chief of staff,

their understanding, which is the foundation of the case for the democrats, was based on second-hand information. remember what yesterday was. the democrats had homefield advantage. they got to change the course of the rules of how to handle a meeting itself. they got to pick the witnesses they wanted. they tabled the opportunity for a whistleblower to come forward and even protect that person's identity while they presented to the committee. with all of that, we found out nothing new. one of the witnesses actually dmitted, what i can do for you here today is tell you what i heard from people. this lacks basic explanation of fact witnesses. those witnesses did rely on their expertise, though, to underscore how much safer ukraine is today under this administration with president trump. after russia invaded ukraine, the previous administration sent thermal blankets. the trump administration sent tank-busting bombs. so i'll refer back to what

speaker pelosi said earlier this year just in march about impeachment. you all recall that. that this is so divisive to our country that it has to be so compelling, so overwhelming, and ipartisan. otherwise, we should not put our country through it. i think speaker pelosi should hold to her own words. there's nothing compelling. there's nothing overwhelming. and the only bipartisan vote we had was to end impeachment. but apparently she doesn't stick with her words. i thought what was most ironic was the setting, the ways and means committee room. democrats on that dais tried to spend their entire day to discredit this president's and this administration's foreign olicy and success. not only were they wrong, they did it while hijacking a committee where we decide on our trade policy. they did it while having ways

and means, where the usmca, nited states-mexcio-canada trade agreement can only make our top two traders stronger as we have negotiations with china. it only emphasized, again, what is not being done in congress and what should be being done in congress. impeachment has overtaken every single committee. we're less than a year away from the election, but these democrats do not trust the american public. they will continue to try to make something up when we have the facts of the phone call. we know there was no pressure to either leader, and the money was released. and ukraine is actually stronger today with a new administration leading america. with that, let me open up to questions. yes, sir. reporter: james rosen. i wonder if you can explain to the american people why they shouldn't see-- on the part of house republicans to hear you assert on the one hand that these witnesses lack credibility because they are only offering

second and thirdhand information at the same time you support the white house blocking testimony from those witnesses, like john bolton, and mick mulvaney, who have firsthand information, whether you want firsthand nformation or you don't? mr. mccarthy: we have firsthand information. we have something i believe the speaker of the house, if she waited 48 hours, would not put the american people through his. we have the transcript. it's not what someone was told fourthhand. we have the two people on the phone call that a whistleblower who was not that started this process. so we know exactly what words were said to one another. and we can walk all the way through that. we have all the information that we need to what adam schiff believed it was something different. adam schiff read something he wished had transposed inside

that transcript that didn't. all of america can read it, and that's why if you take speaker pelosi's words, has to be overwhelming, it has to be so compelling and has to be bipartisan. she doesn't meet one of her three criteria to move forward. reporter: just to be clear-- is the setting in which the republicans now find themselves, hich is an impeachment proceeding, you are against hearing from witnesses who have firsthand knowledge of the president? mr. mccarthy: i am not adversed to hearing from any witness. i am from the standpoint, if we o back to the moment when adam schiff first came forward that he was so concerned that the administration was going to withhold a whistleblower from presenting to congress, that that's what he was fighting for. the only reason why adam schiff is now stopping and moving to table that motion is because we found out that adam schiff and his staff met with the whistleblower. adam schiff and his staff met with the whistleblower before this whistleblower had an attorney, before the whistleblower went to the inspector general.

he's the only person and staff who knows what the whistleblower as said. but we have all the facts we need inside a transcript of the phone call itself. yes. reporter: you just asserted that several republicans-- adam schiff either personally met the whistleblower or knows the whistleblower which he denies. do you think he's lying? mr. mccarthy: yes. reporter: you say there should be -- mr. mccarthy: this is not the first time he has lied to us either. reporter: you say that you and your fellow republicans that the issue should be focused on the president's words on that call. read the transcript. and yet, you have this growing number of state department officials, career public servants who say what they saw was highly irregular, even crazy. are they all wrong? mr. mccarthy: you know, yesterday, congressman john radcliffe left a question to these two witnesses who never met the president, were not on the phone call, has not talked to the chief of staff, and asked them, what do you see impeachable?

is there one impeachable item in there? they could not answer one. remember what we're discussing here. we're talking about removing a duly elected president. you take that so lightly, we have the transcript. you know, alexander hamilton warned of us this day may come. that a person may have the majority with inside of congress to use impeachment for their own personal political gains. we watched how many times they tried this in the last three years and failed. and we see adam schiff leading the charge. reporter: you say not impeachable. is it appropriate? mr. mccarthy: are we having a hearing about inappropriate or impeachment inquiry? it goes to the core of the fabric of democracy. do you take it that lightly that you just have the u.s. congress vote about an impeachment inquiry and then change the rules of the house where you don't have due process, you move t out of the judiciary

committee to the intel committee and make it an impeachment committee, you have secret meetings inside the basement of the capitol, you have not released all the transcripts, you audition who you want to bring forward and we just watched the two witnesses that they wanted to pick, you deny the minority to bring witnesses forward, you deny the president, who you're moving to impeach, to have an attorney in the room, to cross-examine. the same authority those that were impeached had before. nothing there is impeachable. we should not be putting our country through this. we're less than a year away from an election. the worst part of all of this, we just had veterans day. next week government funding stops. and we're not funding the troops. we're not giving them the pay raise that we believe we should. we're in a negotiation with china, which is our number three trader, but our number one and number two traders are mexico nd canada.

we would only be stronger as a nation in our negotiations with china if we were passing the united states-mexcio-canada agreement, but none of that is taking place. we're not spending this week taking-- talking about the funding that needs to go forward. no. no one's mentioned a word of that, because everything has been taken over about impeachment. the same thing this majority has done for the last three years. and i leave you the question. name me one thing this majority problem they have solved? name me one thing those witnesses said yesterday was impeachable? so why are we putting the country through this, and why aren't we working on the things that the american public expects us to do? reporter: you-- republicans, the president have been critical of some of the testimony yesterday, this is second-hand, third-hand. next week you'll hear from gordon sondland who president trump put in this position, supported the inauguration und. would his testimony change your calculation whether or not this is an impeachable offense, if he

corroborates what these other witnesses said? yesterday, we heard there was a conversation overheard by sondland and the president where the president asked about investigations. mr. mccarthy: ok. you have a phone call where the president asked about an investigation. an investigation that's already going forward that i think most of america wants to know what transpired. an investigation that the attorney general is working on. none of that is impeachable. so the answer is no. reporter: walking out of the hearing yesterday, many republicans thought [inaudible] said nothing is impeachable. learned nothing new. that said, is it the republicans' position, regardless what is right or wrong here, that there is no vulnerability to republicans in swing districts of overdefending the president or standing behind him as we move into an election? are you confident this is not going to affect them in any adverse way standing behind the president as we move toward the 2020 election?

mr. mccarthy: i think what republicans are doing is standing up for the constitution. i think of the same thing of the two democrats who voted against the impeachment inquiry. standing up for the onstitution. this is the same thing that alexander hamilton warned us about, that we would use it for political gain. what the republicans are standing for are the ideas what they ran on. first thing i think a majority should do is pass a budget, which the democrats have not done. we should make sure they fund the government, which we have not done. we're working to now have another continuing esolution. so our troops are not being provided the resources they need or the pay raise that they have earned. prescription drugs continue to rise. we have, again, a trade agreement that would only make merica and our economy

stronger, especially when dealing with mexico. the only person i saw yesterday doing the job that they were elected to do was the president of the united states. meeting with another foreign leader. trying to end isis and others. being a part of nato. what did we watch inside ways and means? the same thing we've seen for the last three years. what's so disappointing about all of this, i watched what nancy pelosi said prior to the election. she said they would be different. that they would govern different. but lo and behold, what did we find? we found when they decided who to be chairman of the judiciary committee, they didn't pick an individual that said they would fight for the privacy of individuals on the internet. they picked a campaign where nadler said he would be the very best for impeachment. we watched new freshmen being sworn in. what did they say on the night after they were being sworn n? id they celebrate a victory? no, they said they'd impeach the president. they used different words than i used. they spent three years trying to investigate this president. they have spent their entire

majority trying to impeach this president. from every single walk. adam schiff has continued to lie to the american public when he very first went on the camera and said he had proof beyond circumstantial evidence. he lied to the american public again when he stood at a position of a chair of the intel committee and misread what was in a transcript. on purpose. he was so compelling that the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, believed him on national television. he lied, again, when he told the american public he did not know who this whistleblower was. and how hard he wanted to fight to bring the whistleblower forward. he had an opportunity that the whistleblower could come forward, just as we have been able to do in the past with the i.r.s. hearings in the 1990's and the others, this is the 21st century. we could protect the individual more to actually get the information. no, that's not the case. because he's driven for one purpose. he's already written the script of where he wants to go on impeachment. e's now just trying to fill in

the questions. reporter: republicans have vulnerability from? mr. mccarthy: look, you want to come here and decide what you're going to do based upon politics or durept to stand up for the constitution? i would hope the republicans, if this were in reverse order, this was a democrat in the white house, that they would stand for the constitution the same way. i would hope at the same time they would never carry themselves in the manner which i've seen these democrats, purely for political reasons, that these democrats have voted three times for impeachment. if you ask the democrats, and you can pick and choose who's the leader of the democrats, but i think there is a young freshman woman that leads most of the democrat, what did she say on tv last night? if we don't impeach this president, and i'm parafradse, we would not be successful in the next election. the same way al green, a congressman, a democrat on the other side, when he offered the impeachment motion, what did he say? if we don't impeach this president, he's going to win re-election. so the real question we're-- you're asking me, are the democrats doing this for olitical purposes?

are they standing for the constitution? i think two of them are. reporter: how can you call schiff a liar? mr. mccarthy: he lied to us. reporter: you don't have any proof, or do you? what proof do you have that he lied? reporter: i have the mueller report. reporter: on the whistleblower. mr. mccarthy: which time do you want to talk about him lying? when he spoke on the transcript that he added different words? reporter: that he knows who the whistleblower is and he has met ith the whistleblower. mr. mccarthy: his staff met with the whistle blower, he can claim he did not, but he met -- they met with the whistleblower. now know -- you know what the whistleblower did not say? he met with the staff. reporter: he met with-- adam schiff met with the- mr. mccarthy: for the same reason that adam schiff said he

had proof beyond circumstantial evidence, and we took america through a nightmare, we spent millions of dollars, we took the very best individuals we had in law enforcement, we went to 13 countries, and you know what, we found out he lied. so then i watched adam schiff as chairman of a committee that is the-- of a committee that gets to see items that other members do not, get to see the top secrets of things happening, read to the american public when all eyes were watching on a transcript. and he lied about what was in it then. so when he looks at me and i watched him on television that day say, oh, he wish he knew who the whistleblower was, why didn't he say, well, my staff met with them? met with him? i think that would have been appropriate at the time, would it not? why would he question us about not believing him? shame me once, shame on me-- shame me once, shame on you. shame me twice, shame on me. that's exactly what he's done. he's lied to the american public three different times. and you still put him in charge? if the whistleblower staff-- i mean, if the whistleblower has

met with his staff and him, they are fact witnesses. we now put them in charge. and what do they do? they wrote the rules that not only are they prosecutor, which nowhere in our judicial system would allow a whistleblower be a prosecutor, but he's a judge. he was questioned by elise stefanik, was he going to interrupt and direct the witnesses that he got to pick, not the republican witnesses he denied, not to answer the republicans' questions, like he did down in the basement when the public could not see? what did we find in less than 20 min he is exactly did that same thing. so now he thinks he is the judge and also the jury. nowhere in america would we put someone like that in charge. nowhere would i believe in the republican conference would we allow someone that's continued to lie to the american public in charge of the intel committee. nowhere we would take it out of the intel committee and change

their rules, that members of their own committee cannot ask questions until adam schiff gets his 45 minutes and then adam schiff can decide whether he eeds another 45. he was asked at the start, would he decide after the first 45 that the members of the committee could actually have heir five members. -- five minutes. no. he didn't say it. we'll wait and see. so, yes. i think adam schiff has lied numerous times. i do not think adam schiff is fit to be in this position of running the intel committee, and that's only a decision by with you person who could put them in there. yes, i believe adam schiff has spent his entire time in congress, since the president has been in, trying to impeach him. i think he's already written the script. he auditioned the individuals in the basement, and he's picking and choosing them to come forward. why don't we take him at his own word. would he have lied when he came to us in america and said he's

so concerned the administration is withholding the whistleblower, that he will fight for this whistleblower to come forward, that they wanted to move legislation on the floor, did he lie to us then? now he doesn't want to bring the whistleblower forward, would that be a lie? i think that's a question for adam schiff. thank you all very much. >> follow the house impeachment inquiry and the administration's response on c-span. unfiltered coverage live on tv, our radio app and online. watch primetime reairs on c-span or stream anytime on demand at c-span.org. watch impeachment.

>> a look at president trump boarding air force one earlier this evening en route to louisiana for a campaign rally. his visit comes two days before voters head to the poll this is weekend to choose the state's next governor that race is between democratic incumbent john bell edward and republican businessman. we'll have live coverage of the rally from bossier city starting at 8:00 eastern.

>> c-span's "washington journal," live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up friday morning, michigan democratic congressman dan kildee discussing the latest on the house democrat's impeachment inquishry and author and syndicated columnist ann coulter talks about daca. impeachment. and campaign 2020. watch c-span's "washington journal." live at 7:00 eastern, friday morning. join the discussion. >> campaign 2020. watch our live coverage of the presidential candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. c-span's campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. >> another candidate is joining the 2020 presidential